Bonham in 150 Words

Why do the drums in “When the Levee Breaks” catapult us into a state of raw vulnerability? How does Bonham bypass the intellect and plunge so deftly into the visceral? How are his drum sticks so methodically violent and poetic? At times, his drums are begging for mercy, but they’re terribly sadistic, locked in a codependent relationship that neither wants out of. And we, the hypnotized voyeurs, are fed like baby birds, helplessly begging for sustenance. We find ourselves in the throes of a ventriloquial grip. Bonham’s artistry courses through our temporal lobes like soothing lava; it speaks for us, and we’re all too willing to let his brilliance seduce us because the euphoria is worth the recognition that we are at his mercy, that we are hopelessly less than, and that the artist is immortal - while everyone else lies forgotten in a silent graveyard.